BGA Wrap-up - Eagles at Jets

As you know, I usually like to move on from a loss and look ahead rather than dwell on it too much. History will remember this however it wants to, anyway. Whether this will be looked upon as a one-score defeat or a blowout with a flattering final scoreline down the road will probably depend upon how well the Jets play over the next month or so and what this does to people's perception of the team. One thing's for sure, it wasn't a particularly well played game by either team, so they'll both need to improve if they want to win most of their games going forwards.

London is calling! The Jets should arrive here early on Friday morning where they will prepare for the meeting with the Dolphins in a battle of two teams that were both 24-0 down in the second quarter of their previous game.

BGA: Sproled out across the field

I've registered my concern about the special teams units a few times since the start of preseason but, truth be told, they haven't been that bad so far. However, one disastrous unit-wide breakdown proved to be a game-changer. Instead of a 3-0 game with the ball deep in their own territory and their offense stalling, the Eagles were gifted a 10-0 lead and, as we're all painfully aware, this Jets team is not really built to come from behind.

Credit to Darren Sproles, I guess, who made a spectacular play on the return, but he left a litany of tacklers strewn across the field on his 89-yard punt runback. The guilty parties: Kellen Davis, Bilal Powell and Tanner Purdum, who missed tackles, Devin Smith and Erin Henderson, who overpursued, and Ryan Quigley, who out-kicked his coverage.

BGA: Calvin fails to repeat prior performances

It had been an encouraging start to the season for Calvin Pryor, who of course had his first interception last week. Unfortunately, this game showed that he still has some considerable room for growth.

As noted in the previous article, Pryor had a blown coverage in a mix-up with Demario Davis, but he also took a bad angle on a couple of plays, a habit I was hoping he'd started to overcome. By far his biggest issue, however, was that he kept coming up towards the line of scrimmage on running plays but then getting blocked out of the play on the edge.

BGA: Choking in the clutch

The Jets would have got the ball back with about 30 seconds left had Quinton Coples not been called for an illegal hands to the face penalty on third down. Coples did have his hand up around the neck area of his blocker, although it was well away from the play.

The call was somewhat surprising, given the fact that linemen from both teams had been doing the same sort of thing throughout the game. On this particular play, Coples didn't shove back his man with the same kind of aggression as Brandon Graham did earlier in the game when he looked like he was trying to snap D'Brickshaw Ferguson's head back like a pez dispenser. This wasn't even the most egregious example of Coples himself doing that, because he had done it earlier in much more aggressive fashion while double teamed on a stretch run.

BGA: Adjustin' Leonard

Was this a good performance or a bad performance by the Jets defense? On one hand, they allowed a 100-yard rusher, had a couple of key breakdowns and left the offense with some catching up to do. However, on the other hand, they posted a second half shut-out, held the high-powered Eagles to just 231 yards and 14 of the points they gave up came on a punt return and after a turnover left the Eagles with a short field.

Often in this kind of game, the defense will still grade out well because they performed well for most of it. However, that wasn't really the case in this one. That's even true of the defensive line, who - despite helping to hold the Eagles to 3.2 yards per carry - were not able to dominate up front as you can usually rely on them to do.

BGA: Lateral thinking

I've often thought that if NFL teams started practicing lateral passes more often, it could revolutionize the league. Sure, it's a risky play, but if players practiced it, used it at the appropriate time and were on the same page in terms of expecting it, this could stretch a defense and turn a lot of plays into big gains. Unfortunately, none of those things applied to the play Brandon Marshall tried to make in yesterday's game.

Marshall called his ill-advised attempt to lateral the ball to Jeff Cumberland, the "worst play in NFL history". He's wrong, but at least he recognizes it was a reckless thing to do. The Jets were driving, down 17, at the time and seven plays later that lead swelled to a what-proved-to-be-insurmountable 24 points.

BGA: Powell Movement

While he might not be as talented as Chris Ivory, I sometimes feel that Bilal Powell is under-appreciated by Jets fans, myself included. Powell plays hard, is versatile and I absolutely love his hustle even when chasing down lost causes like the punt return in yesterday's game. By all rights, he should probably be one of my favorite players, but he seems to be caught in between being in a reserve role where he doesn't get many chances to contribute and a lead back role he perhaps isn't ideally cut out for.

With Ivory not playing, you can't help but wonder how much of a downgrade the Jets' running game suffered with Powell in there. Maybe there was none at all. After all, Powell started another week three game in place of Ivory three weeks ago and ran for almost 150 yards, more than Ivory ever has as a Jet. The outcome yesterday was very different though, although the Jets abandoned the running game pretty early on.

BGA: The onset of Winters

Many people are surprised that Brian Winters is still on the roster. However, with Willie Colon struggling with a knee issue, Winters played the entire second half and the prognosis for Colon to start next week doesn't sound good. So, for now at least, it looks like the much-maligned Winters is back in the starting line-up.

However, while Winters did have a couple of bad moments, he was far from the only reason for the offensive line's struggles in yesterday's game. I know the Eagles have a couple of talented guys up-front, but they were also missing three starters from their front seven and the Jets struggled to win at the point of attack in the running game and to protect Ryan Fitzpatrick as effectively as you'd usually expect.

BGA: Jets keep giving their fans Fitz

After two solid performances in the first two games, Ryan Fitzpatrick underlined how this Jets team isn't really built to come from behind, as the team's efforts to recover from a 24-0 deficit came up short with Fitzpatrick throwing three interceptions after that point.

Fitzpatrick missed some opportunities, both in terms of not seeing open receivers and also with a series of off-target throws. Still, about halfway through the second quarter, he had completed two-thirds of his passes and had a quarterback rating of over 90. From that point onwards, his number reflected his performance more accurately though.

BGA: Playing without a full Deck

Welcome to BGA! We'll be here the day after every Jets game for an in-depth review of what happened. We'll look at each position group throughout the day, so keep coming back to TJB to check it out. We'll also post a summary with links to all the articles later on today.

BGA Preview: Eagles at Jets

During the season, Bent's Game Analysis charts games for some of the Jets' upcoming opponents, enabling a breakdown of what to watch out for on gameday...

It's the green and white, with their locker room dysfunction, fans who like to spell out the team name and their controversial coach who was initially thought as a genius but is now seen by many, perhaps unfairly, as stubborn and out-of-touch. Wait...are the Jets facing the 2015 Eagles or the 2014 Jets? While they have been struggling so far this season, the Eagles have historically had the Jets' number. The teams met most recently in December 2011, as the Jets were aiming to go to 9-5 on the season and lock down a playoff berth. The Eagles' 45-19 win sent the 2011 season into a spiral as the Jets lost their last three to miss the postseason at 8-8. In fact, it pretty much sent the Rex Ryan era into a tailspin, as the Jets were 32-19 under Rex prior to that game, but 18-33 thereafter. Can the Jets finally beat them for the first time ever in a regular season game?

BGA Extra - Jets at Colts

Welcome to BGA Extra, where I draw a line under the previous weekend?s game by responding to your questions from BGA during the week which you can read here. After the jump, I respond to your questions about the game against the Colts.

levi:?On the long Colts drive that ended with the Gore fumble was the D playing more conservative or did the Colts just have a good drive? Also, I saw Decker was open when Fitz forced it to Marshall in double coverage. So I'm wondering if he was passing up other open receivers to target Decker and Marshall on other plays? I'd like to see the ball being spread around to other guys too considering injuries in the NFL you can't rely on just your favorites.

BGA Wrap-Up - Jets at Colts

Have the Jets really won 83 games in a row where they led by eight or more points in the fourth quarter? That statistic blew my mind. I guess that's 83 times in a row dating back to 1999 that I expected the worst but it didn't happen. Doesn't seem like it, does it? I'm pretty sure Dan Marino beat the Jets in that situation at least 400 times over the course of his career, but he retired in 1999 and the Jets have been ruthless at hanging onto leads ever since (apparently). I still don't believe that. Can we get Elias to do a re-count?

I can't beat that but out of all the stats I've ever unearthed myself as I've been writing these BGA's over the past few seasons, the most incredible was this one.

BGA - Feeding the post

Once again, special teams didn't have much of an impact on the outcome here, which is perhaps what the Jets are hoping for this year. Each team had a field goal smack off the upright, so that proved to be a wash.

While it's always disappointing to see Nick Folk miss one, ultimately this one didn't matter. My biggest complaint about him is that he should have missed his last extra point and field goal as well and then the Jets would have won 16-7 for old time's sake. Without checking, I bet someone made that remark when Marshall's touchdown made it 16-7. It seems like the kind of thing Rich Cimini would say.

BGA - Take it away, maestro

By now, you'll all probably have seen the statistics that show the Jets have already created more points off turnovers than they did all of last season. It's about time they started making plays instead of nearly making plays and finally they have some players capable of doing that. At this rate, it won't be long before they start scoring some points too.

Leading the way, as expected, was Darrelle Revis. The talismanic shutdown corner had two more fumble recoveries and an interception and actually almost came down with a fourth turnover on a late jump ball. I'm pretty sure he caused the first of those fumbles with a jedi mind trick too, because Frank Gore looked set to score easily and lost the ball with nobody around him.

BGA - The DH rules

He's a player whose contributions often go unappreciated so when he has a big game like this we should give David Harris a ton of credit.

Harris made one of the biggest plays of the game when he was spying Andrew Luck on third and long, avoided a blocker in the open field to make the tackle short of the marker and then pried the ball loose for a key turnover. He also had seven tackles and a pressure, stuffing three runs close to the line and making two good open field tackles on short passes.

BGA - What about the rest of us?

I've already talked at length about how the Jets were able to exploit mismatches to get Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall the ball. The pair combined for 15 catches, 198 yards and two scores. In terms of yardage, that represented over 80% of Ryan Fitzpatrick's output.

I'm sure people will be wondering why Decker was shut out in the second half after being so productive in the first half, but the answer is pretty simple. Due to the long Colts drive, the Jets reliance on the run and his early injury, Decker was only out there for five passing plays - and on one of those he was unlucky not to come down with the ball on a deep throw by Fitzpatrick.

BGA - Killing Indy game off

As I had been anticipating, the Jets used a lot of spread formations in an effort to expose the Colts to mismatches and this meant that Bilal Powell saw more playing time than Chris Ivory. Powell did some good things, but almost allowed the Colts back into the game with a late fumble that he was somehow able to recover that himself.

Perhaps benefiting from being fresher heading into the second half, Ivory finally started gaining?some yards, first breaking two tackles to turn what should have been a loss into a seven yard gain and then busting through the line with a nice cut, breaking a tackle at the second level and hurdling a defender downfield. By finally getting the running game going, the Jets were able to kill the game off pretty comfortably in the end.

BGA - I was told there'd be no Mathis

The challenge for the Jets' offensive line became more difficult when it was announced before that game that Robert Mathis was set to return from his Achilles injury. While he missed all of last year, Mathis had a career-high 19.5 sacks in 2013 so is a potential difference-maker when healthy.

Truth be told, the Jets did a good job of protecting Ryan Fitzpatrick as Mathis was relegated to a situational pass rush role off the bench and didn't have a major impact. That headline was too good to pass up though.

BGA - Fitz like a glove

Ryan Fitzpatrick's solid start to the season continued, as he threw for 244 yards and two touchdowns and marched the Jets down the field for two fourth quarter scoring drives to ice the game.

Last week, I came up with a definition for an NFL quarterback's equivalent of a "quality start" - 60% completions and more touchdowns than interceptions - and Fitzpatrick has achieved that twice in two games. Geno Smith did it once in 2013 and once in 2014, with a string of 23 consecutive games without one in between. To give some further context to that "Quality Start" stat, Chad Pennington did it approximately once in every three games in his career, Vinny Testaverde did it seven times in the 1998 regular season and Mark Sanchez did it nine times in his Jets career, plus three more in the postseason.

BGA: Better Luck next time

Welcome to BGA! We'll be here the day after every Jets game for an in-depth review of what happened. We'll look at each position group throughout the day, so keep coming back to TJB to check it out. We'll also post a summary with links to all the articles later on today.

BGA Preview: Jets at Colts

During the season, Bent's Game Analysis charts games for some of the Jets' upcoming opponents, enabling a breakdown of what to watch out for on gameday...

Week Two: A home opener for a play-off team, with one of the best quarterbacks in the league, coming off a heavy week one loss and facing a Jets' team coming off a comfortable win against a poor team in their home opener. Haven't we seen this before? It's almost an exact repeat of last year's week two clash against the Packers. As that game showed, even if you do match up well with an opponent and can get a lead on them, there's always a chance of the other team getting back into the game when their quarterback is good. The Jets will be underdogs here, but can they win?

BGA Extra: Browns at Jets

Welcome to BGA Extra, where I draw a line under the previous weekend?s game by responding to your questions from BGA during the week which you can read here. After the jump, I respond to your questions about the game against the Browns.

David Aron:?Do the Jets have the pieces to repeat Rex's blueprint to a win over the Colts? Also, in your opinion, would the jets have resigned Jason Babin if he hadn't already signed with the Ravens?

TJB Friday Chat - 2pm ET

In order to access the room, you must now sign up for a chatzy account at chatzy.com ? click where it says log in/sign up in the top right hand corner. Obviously if you registered already, you can log into your existing account. You will then be able to access the room at the usual address - Chatzy.com/TJB where this week?s password is hopeforbadluck.

BGA Wrap-Up - Browns at Jets

After some early wobbles, it was a strong start to the season and with positive news on both Antonio Cromartie and Lorenzo Mauldin this afternoon, everything is set up nicely for a long week of preparation. Next up is a Monday night game against the Colts, who desperately need a win after their loss to the Bills.

Hopefully this team will show it has even more to offer over the next few weeks with the promise of even more reinforcements on the way in the shape of Sheldon Richardson, Devin Smith, Dee Milliner, Stevan Ridley and Oday Aboushi.

BGA: Nothing much special

Special teams were such a non-factor early on in this one it looked like it was going to present too much of a challenge to even come up with anything interesting to write about. However, there were one or two more interesting special teams plays in the second half.

The first thing to pay attention to is the new extra point rules. They didn't have an impact on this game, with Nick Folk making all four, but this does jeopardize his consecutive extra points streak. That streak, which currently stands at 296, could challenge the NFL record (469) within about five years, depending how good his team's offense is. However, the chances of him maintaining that now he has to kick an effective 33-yarder are reduced. Folk has missed six field goals of less than 30 yards in his career.

BGA: The Power of Pryor

Calvin Pryor still has plenty of work to do, as evidenced by the near-miss over the top as the Browns went after him on the first play. However, the turnover he forced at the goal line was a huge play and over the course of the game he had one of his most disciplined performances.

As expected, he didn't play every snap - Jaiquawn Jarrett rotated in for four plays and the Jets had just one safety in on three others - and he wasn't constantly in the box, but he had one of his most productive games with a team-leading and career-high 10 tackles.

BGA: Big Cat and the Top Dog

While this Muhammad Wilkerson contract stand-off has endured all offseason, I've been trying to rationalize it. Maybe Wilkerson's role is more affordably replaceable with Bowles' scheme. Maybe Leonard Williams is going to play so well that he becomes surplus to requirements. Maybe I just overrated him this whole time.

BGA: Off to Ivory good start

The Jets compiled some excellent rushing numbers (154 yards and two scores at a 4.3 yards per carry average) behind a solid run-blocking performance to drive their performance. Once again, it was Chris Ivory who led the way, but Bilal Powell also made some excellent contributions.

Ivory seemed to display excellent vision. So much so that I couldn't always decipher where his cutback runs were as a result of a great play design or just a terrific initial read by him. He bounced a couple of runs outside for good yardage where they would have been stuffed if he took the ball up the middle and had a couple of plays where he should have been stuffed for a loss but managed to break tackles to get positive yardage.

BGA: Nicked up

Veteran center Nick Mangold probably won't grade out that well in this game, but it was a gutsy display to see him go back into the game after suffering what was obviously a stinger in the third quarter. Mangold dealt with a stinger once before - back in August 2011 - and his status for the opener was in doubt at the time.

After suffering that injury, Mangold did have some issues in terms of preventing penetration and sustaining his blocks, but he's such an integral cog that the fact he was out there at all was important to the team locking down the win in the second half. It was still only 14-10 when Mangold got hurt.

BGA: Ryan gives the Browns Fitz

In his first start for the Jets, Ryan Fitzpatrick completed 15 of 24 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. The majority of that production came in the second quarter, as he was 9 of 14 for 117 yards and a touchdown.

These numbers, and Fitzpatrick's performance, are nothing special, but they were solid and, really, that's all the Jets really want from the quarterback position. If Fitzpatrick can consistently replicate this kind of production, that will be a major upgrade over what they've attained from the position in recent years.

BGA: Downing the Browns

Welcome to BGA! We'll be here the day after every Jets game for an in-depth review of what happened. We'll look at each position group throughout the day, so keep coming back to TJB to check it out. We'll also post a summary with links to all the articles later on today.

BGA Preview: Browns at Jets

During the season, Bent's Game Analysis charts games for some of the Jets' upcoming opponents, enabling a break down of what to watch out for on gameday...

The first week of the season is always a tough one to gauge. Even the most convincing of wins can soon be put into context when you realize the following week the team you beat is going to struggle equally against all their opponents. In 1981, the Jets lost their opener 31-0 against the Bills but made the postseason for the first time since the 1960s. In 1997, they 41-3 against Seattle, but missed the postseason. Even as recently as 2010, the Jets opened with a listless 10-9 loss at home to the Ravens, but then won five straight and ended up with their best record in recent memory. In other words, the Jets can only beat what's in front of them, so all we can do is consider what the Browns have going for them.

TJB Friday Chat - 2pm ET

In order to access the room, you must now sign up for a chatzy account at chatzy.com ? click where it says log in/sign up in the top right hand corner. Obviously if you registered already, you can log into your existing account. You will then be able to access the room at the usual address - Chatzy.com/TJB where this week?s password is inastate.

BGA: Scouting Ronald Martin

Bent, theJetsBlog.com:?Over the weekend, the Jets made a roster move, claiming former Seattle Seahawks safety Ronald Martin on waivers. Jets fans might not know too much about Martin, so I've been watching film to try and get a sense of what he brings to the table.

Martin, 22, is listed at 6-foot-2 and 220 pounds and is an undrafted rookie out of LSU. He played in four preseason games with Seattle but did not make their final roster, despite the fact that Kam Chancellor is holding out. In four years at LSU, Martin started 21 games and recorded 150 tackles and five interceptions.